In 1986, Kevin Mackey led the Cleveland State men's basketball team to a stunning upset victory over Bob Knight's Indiana Hoosiers in the NCAA tournament. Four years later, he came wobbling out of a Cleveland crackhouse into the waiting arms of the police. The local news station was also there, capturing the whole…

A few years ago, Joe Posnanski—formerly a Kansas City sportswriter, and today famous as a JoePa apologist—interviewed me about one of my books and posted my answers on his blog. He asked me whether, if I'd become a major league pitcher, I still would have become a writer. I emailed, "No. I would have continued…

Scott Raab is taking last night's result better than we imagined he would: "The Miami Heat, beloved of the bath-salt zombies lurking under every overpass from Coconut Grove to Biscayne Bay, heroes to the half-wits who prefer gold to goodness, have won another crown."

Time for another installment of Gelf's splendid Varsity Letters reading series, and this time it's particularly timely: Harvey Araton, Henry Abbott, and our man Scott Raab, will be reading and waxing about the NBA's return. 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Le Poisson Rouge, Bleecker St. between Sullivan and Thompson. Go hear…

I started working on The Whore of Akron in June 2009, before LeBron's walk year began. No one at that time saw much evidence that he was actually going to walk, not until after the Cavs lost to the Celtics in the second round of the playoffs and he started talking about "my team" in reference to the geniuses who…

When LeBron James stood up the Cavs live on ESPN last season, Esquire writer Scott Raab took his 50-plus years of sad-sack Cleveland sports fandom and became a one-man hate machine. For those of you annoyed by Raab's anti-King James Twitter rantings last year, you'll be happy to know his new book is nothing like that.…

Esquire has the first excerpt from Scott Raab'sThe Whore of Akron, on sale Nov. 15. We'll have more later in the week. For now: "Lord. This is where LeBron James wants to play basketball, in front of sun-dried cretins who must be bribed to act as if they care about the game and the team. ... For as long as I've been…

And it was Scott Raab (yesterday). Oh, don't get all "How dare you belittle millions of deaths for a joke the morally depraved community doesn't even so much as giggle at?" He apologized 13 hours later, while nobly driving page views to a story he wrote last year about retired U.S. autoworker/convicted Nazi…

Because no one reads the newspaper, and SportsCenter's anchors are too perky for this early in the morning, Deadspin combs the best of the broadsheets and internets to bring you everything you need to know to start your day.

On a night when LeBron James became the most hated man in basketball, only one network had a chance to ask him tough questions about a decision that will shape the future the NBA. And, of course, they didn't do that.

Turn off ESPN. Fold the newspaper. Ignore talk radio. Until LeBron signs somewhere, all of the experts are going to blather on that they "know" where LeBron is going. Save your time. Read this instead.

In a little more than a week, LeBron James could be a Knick. He could be a Bull. And if he is anything but a Cav, the impact on Cleveland could be staggering. One passionate fan's ultimate nightmare scenario for his hometown.